11th Hour Racing Team/The Ocean Race
11th Hour Racing, founded by Philanthropist Wendy Schmidt and Sailor Jeremy Pochman, works to advance sustainable solutions and practices to protect and restore the health of our oceans by partnering with organizations and ambassadors via sponsorships and grant-making. Those partners amplify, educate, and inspire the mission-critical message of ocean stewardship. For the 2022-2023 Ocean Race, 11th Hour Racing was a Premier Partner of the Race and sponsor of the United States Team. In addition to the sporting goal of winning the race, team members had another goal – to raise awareness of how human actions on land affect the oceans and advance sustainable solutions and practices (CTAs) that protect and restore ocean health.
Zim Strategies was tapped as the US marcomm rep for 11th Hour Racing and the team. Our mandate was to raise awareness of the 11th Hour Racing Team, its mission, the race,and Call to Action. The agency developed a multi-tiered marketing and communications approach that brought to life a concept conceived by team captain Charlie Enright, entitled The Oceanview Effect - similar to the Overview Effect that one experiences in space.
Beginning the campaign, the agency employed an influencer marketing strategy that created a partnership with Space Shuttle and ISS Astronaut Nicole Stott and four leading micro and macro influencers across the sustainability and lifestyle sectors. Stott and Enright shot a video series on the analogous comparison of the two Effects and the importance of ocean health for the climate and planet. To further bolster awareness and engagement with the team and its CTA, the influencers posted videos providing their own transparent take on the team’s exciting mission and journey. The agency overlaid a national media relations strategy that featured the sailing exploits of the team and the important “citizen science” work that the crew of the boat performed while underway in some of the most treacherous and remote parts of the globe – instrument deployment, important weather and water-related elements measurement and various experiments.
The kick-off coverage began with feature stories on The Today Show and by Associated Press. Other media coverage over the course of the campaign included CBS Evening News, numerous live remote segments on The Weather Channel, Ars Technica, Jalopnik, Sports Business Journal, Scripps Media, Authority, and NBC New York, to name a few. With the team ultimately winning the grueling 36,500+ mile, six-month voyage media coverage culminated with sit down interviews on CBS Mornings and The View.
The campaign yielded an average engagement of 13.77% on Instagram and more than 5.52 Billion Media impressions. Zim Strategies remains 11th Hour Racing’s AOR.
